Emily Vaka’uta FCA clearly remembers her first Matariki commemoration. It was before dawn at Ōmāpere on the southern side of Hokianga Harbour, one of Māoridom’s celebrated and earliest of landfalls. It’s believed more than 1000 years ago the explorer Kupe sailed over the turbulent bar crossing, drawn by the light bouncing off Te Ramaroa, an ancestral mountain of the Ngāpuhi tribe. Northerners believe it’s also where Kupe left Aotearoa, returning to his Polynesian homeland.

Amid this rich history and stunning geography, Vaka’uta’s Ngāpuhi family, the Te Whata whānau, gathered in 2022. Think towering green cliffs above a narrow harbour, which runs for 30 kilometres inland from the Tasman Sea. The headland opposite is strikingly different, famous for its grand golden sand dunes.

“We’re pushing 150-plus people in my whānau, as my dad’s one of 13, so there’s lots of us. But we got together and we celebrated Matariki in its purest form,” recalls Vaka’uta. “We went up the cliffs. It was beautiful and magically – on that morning just before the sun was rising – the clouds moved and the Matariki appeared. It was amazing.”

Matariki marks the Māori New Year and is linked to the rising of the star cluster of the same name. In other parts of the world, it’s known as the Pleiades – appearing in our pre-dawn skies in June or July. In 2025, it’s celebrated on 20 June.

Matariki is a time when those who have passed on are remembered but it’s also about appreciating the present and looking forward to the future. In 2022 it became a public holiday – New Zealand’s first to recognise a Māori worldview.

Vaka’uta, a chartered accountant for more than 20 years, is the co-CEO of Springload Te Pipītanga: a Wellington-based digital design agency. She’s proud of the work they do with universities, government departments, banks and pro bono work for charities. Springload marks the holiday every year in simple ways, from weaving and planting to learning about each of the stars and what they represent to Māori. The emphasis is always on being together.

“We all have our big dinner at work and everyone’s whānau comes,” says Vaka’uta. “I just love having a long table with all of us sitting down and we each bring our food, our kai, and we all share it and we’re all just talking and laughing. It’s beautiful.

“Sometimes we get so busy with life that you forget to be centred together.”

Vaka’uta admits there have been “a few awkward moments” when she suggested those gathered talk about their aspirations for the year. “I think everyone loves it,” she says, “but they are also [thinking], ‘What is she going to do this year?’”

Celebrations big and small

Elsa Wrathall CA (Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Kahu, Ngāruahine) is currently the interim group finance manager at Te Arawa Lakes Trust. This is a legacy iwi entity, established to represent the interests of Te Arawa hapū and whānau in relation to the Te Arawa Lakes Settlement Act 2006 – interlocking the unique intergenerational relationship with the 14 freshwater lakes and taonga species like kōura, tuna, kākahi, inanga, kōaro and morihana.

Wrathall joined the organisation in October 2024 but built her career at PwC in audit and financial advisory services. She was also a member of the firm’s Manukura Māori business team and enjoyed being hands-on, growing capability and supporting both pakihi and kaimahi Māori.

Encouraging Māori and kaimahi within the company to celebrate the holiday and its meaning – and making it accessible to her colleagues with meaningful events – makes her proud. She sees the recognition of Matariki as part of a broader struggle for recognition of Māori knowledge that so many have been a part of. 

But the holiday also hits at different emotional levels, she says.

“I’m glad [people] stood up and fought for Matariki, for this to come back for the next generation because I guess it just feels like a piece of you is missing when you don’t have it.

“The wairua and energy around Matariki and the New Year is an amazing time to be able to share with each other – just pause and reflect together.

“To celebrate our uniqueness; no one else has it in the world, how cool is it that we have that?” 

Wrathall’s own plans? She has a few items on her agenda, including an ANZ Matariki celebration in Kirikiriroa, which is championed by Tui Fau and is an “amazing and uplifting event” in its second year. She’ll also be attending Tohunga Tūmau, celebrating Māori chefs, winemakers and performers with some of her Te Arawa colleagues and key stakeholders. Plus, she’ll set aside time to be alone and reflect, but connect with whānau and friends as well.

Kiriama Stevens CA (Kāi Tahu) will commemorate the holiday on a smaller scale.

“We have a dog, that’s our little whānau unit,” says Stevens, who works at Te Puni Kōkiri Ministry of Māori Development. “We’ll do something together. My girlfriend’s family is from here [Wellington] so we might do something with them, which will be nice.”

As Matariki grows, so does the understanding that one size doesn’t fit all. For some tribes, Matariki isn’t visible from their night skies. The star Puanga, known as Rigel in other parts of the world, orients them instead. Iwi who celebrate Puanga include some in the western North Island, Northland, and the South Island. 

“I’m aware that this year there’s a theme around Puanga,” says Stevens. “So, I’m keen to learn about that.”

Upholding Māori values in business

Tikanga and te reo adviser Dr Anaha Hiini is well known to CA ANZ members through the language classes he runs mostly for non-Māori. He says CA ANZ is better than most at weaving kaupapa like Matariki through their mahi.

And it starts at the top, he says.

“One of their big bosses Peter [Vial FCA, CA ANZ group executive New Zealand and the Pacific], he’s working hard to always uphold the mana of the taha Māori,” Hiini says. “When you send in your management first, they’re leading by example. So, they’re creating a little bit of a pyramid effect as well.”

Hiini feels relief that Matariki is being reclaimed.

“We’re slowly peeling off the layers of the onion, I’m talking about colonisation and getting right through to the core. Matariki is great because over the years we’ve been learning about Pleiades, Greek stories, even [been] taught about Subaru, the Japanese story, but we never ever learned about the true Matariki narrative. That’s what I reckon Matariki is doing for us: it’s helping us decolonise.”

Weaving te reo and tikanga through business practice shouldn’t just be an internal exercise. Accountants are dealing with Māori trusts, SMEs and an expanding tribal business base. Engaging in those relationships means meeting treaty partners where they’re at, Hiini says. Deepening those links means starting with te reo.

As for Vaka’uta, she says her position allows her to steer a path for Springload, a company that has staff who are hungry for knowledge and inclusion.

“From my work perspective, we are very big on making sure our most vulnerable are also heard in everything that we do. For us to do that mahi, we have to be able to embrace the culture.”

What is Matariki

Matariki is the Māori name for a cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades. This year rising Friday, 20 June, for many Māori it heralds the start of New Year. Iwi across New Zealand understand and celebrate Matariki in different ways.

Kupu Māori (Māori words)

hapū – clan

iwi – tribe

kai – food

kaimahi – employee

kaupapa – topic

mahi – work

mana – status

pakihi – business

taha Māori – Māori side

taonga – treasure, anything prized

te reo – language 

tikanga – cultural protocols

wairua – spirit

whānau – family

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